Chinese media slam popular video game for attacking country’s image

Chinese media has lashed out a recent video game that it claims portrays the country in a negative light and “demonises the image of China”.

In an article by the South China Morning Post, it reports that Battlefield 4: China Rising – a first-person shooter set in Shanghai – has been criticised in military newspaper, Zhongguo Guofangbao, stating it was “discrediting China’s image abroad and distorting the truth in an effort to mislead young people”.

The editorial stated: “American soldiers attack Shanghai [and] exchange fire with the People’s Liberation Army. China’s domestic unrest is the [game’s] backdrop, and the US military must fight for peace and uncover China’s conspiracies”

The state media outlet claims “to discredit one country’s image in the eyes of other countries is a new form of cultural penetration and aggression.”

The game’s main villain is a renegade Chinese general and the newspaper believes the increase of the country’s national strength has turned the western world’s attention from seeing Russians or dodgy London gangsters as the common enemy to now being China.

China’s city of Shaghai serves as the setting for Battlefield 4 where US military have to neutralise the threat of a renegade Chinese general. Source: Supplied

When the article hit the internet it was met by many in support of the game and dismissed the claims it portrayed China in a negative light.

On games website Kotaku, users questioned the editorial argument by making the point that American media is more likely to discredit itself than the Chinese.

“How many times have games and movies from the US shown domestic terrorist attacks, alien invasions or the White House getting blown up multiple times?”

“In the [game], you actually work with the Chinese military to stop this rogue general, who’d tried to have a promising new leader assassinated and subsequently framed the US as the perpetrators in order to orchestrate a war,” said another.

Battlefield 4: China Rising is part of the popular first-person warfare franchise from Electronic Arts and was released in November.